amy tan talks about how things like childhood trauma or negative impacts could influence our creativity. examples of more darker influences are depression, psychosis, or temporal lobe seizures (which she experienced while writing her book). painter vincent van gogh went through these, she said. to a more mentally healthy person, they would view the artworks as much more creative since they are rarely exposed to it. creativity can also come from the universe in the form of hints and coincidences and they are often just right in front of our eyes, but we have not noticed them yet.
amy tan also says that uncertainty is a good thing and rather than be afraid of it, we should address is head-on since uncertainty allows us to think of more ideas and solutions for our problems.
in the video, tony fadell talks about how we usually don't notice the little things in life since we are already too used to them. he gives the stickers on apples as an example and how at first people were very aware of it but as time passes, they became used to it. this is because if we notice everything, it would become too exhausting.
but if one notices the smallest details, they could make a big change. for example, mary anderson invented the windshield wipers when she noticed that the drivers had to stop and brush off snow from the car windows every once in a while and thought what could make it easier for the drivers so that they don't have to stop and go outside to get rid of the snow on the windows?
another example tony fadell gave is when steve jobs told his employees to look at their products as a buyer. one common problem is that new gadgets are not yet fully charged so one as to wait a while for it to charge before using it, so they decided to make their products all fully charged and ready to use immediately once bought.
tony fadell teaches us that we should stop accepting things as what they are and try to notice and question them more to realise what we are missing and what we could do to improve them.
i think it's no longer a secret that i like korean groups, although i tried to keep it as lowkey as possible (and i failed). i told myself i wouldn't get invested in any more groups yet here i am.
sm entertainment debuted their newest group three days ago, nct dream, which is a sub-unit of nct. nct stands for neo culture technology and how they work is that they have an 'unlimited' number of male members from korea, china, thailand, japan, canada and america which will be divided into various sub-units based in different cities. at first i thought it was a funny idea, but now i think that it's actually pretty unique. nct's main unit nct u debuted this april with 'the 7th sense', followed by nct 127 (which is based in south korea, and fun fact: 127 is the coordinates of south korea) in july with 'fire truck'.
unlike nct u and nct 127 who debuted with members with the average age of 20, nct dream's average age is less than 16. their debut song is also much more cute and pop, unlike their predecessors', since they want to appeal to younger audiences.
from left to right: renjun (chinese, 16 years old), mark (leader of the group, previously in nct u and nct 127, canadian, 17 years old), haechan (previously in nct 127, korean, 16 years old), chenle (chinese, 14 years old), jisung (korean, 14 years old), jaemin (korean, 16 years old), jeno (korean, 16 years old)
what blew me away the most, other than the fact that they're all so young, is that part of their choreography involves hoverboards. they are dancing on hoverboards. how even. (video of their performance at a music show below)
i know k-pop might not be everyone's cup of tea, but you've got to admit that these kids are talented and they have a lot of potential!
here's the music video for their title song 'chewing gum'! there's also a chinese version.
Imagine this room: the window at the back is open. In front of the window there is a table with a vase, in which a fresh rose stands. A painting of flowers hangs on the opposite wall (at the whiteboard area). A bee flies into the room through the open window, straight to the painting and not the rose. Why?!?!?!
i decided to stop by the singapore night festival at bras basah on friday night. this year's theme was inventions and innovations. it was interesting to see the streets of singapore late at night since i rarely ever go out at night. i really liked seeing all the various exhibits on the streets!
moving images were projected onto the singapore art museum building which depicted the world of author jules verne.
the 'corals' in this exhibit were made out of sugar and chocolate.
a lot of kids (and also adults) used the little lights to spell out their names and make shapes.
this is my favourite exhibit! i waited in line for more than an hour to see it.
you get locked in a room for a while full of changing lights. it was very breathtaking! it literally made me question the meaning of life.
i've been binge watching a lot of youtube videos lately revolving around nail art. i find it amazing how people have the patience to make such intricate designs on their own nails whereas i can't even paint a solid colour on my nails without making a mess.
here are some very simple yet elegant designs!
this is literally like painting on a very tiny canvas HOW DO PEOPLE DO THIS.
i have a newfound appreciation for those who work at nail salons/people who do nail art in general. i'lll leave with you with a tutorial on how to do suicide squad themed nails!
in his talk, steven johnson talks about where good ideas are born. he says that to create good ideas, there has to be a place where people from different walks of life with different experiences can come together and talk, like a coffee shop.
some ideas come from simple ideas during conversations (like the story of Guier and Weiffenbach who were talking about picking up signals from the newly launched Soviet satellite, which they succeeded in, and later on their invention becomes something now known as the GPS) and some ideas take a longer time to grow as they linger in your mind.
he also says that ideas should be shared rather than protected, since sharing them will result in more better solutions, because after all it isn't the idea that's important but it's how you execute it.
just picked up my copy of beast's 3rd full album 'highlight' today! i'm totally in love with it. it's such a great album and it has such a great concept!
(why is the cover like this though? why did they separate the members? i find it weird.)
lyrics from the title song 'ribbon', which was written by the group's rapper (and producer) yong junhyung. "i came up with 'ribbon' because i was wearing the hotel gown and i went to the corridor and the gown all of a sudden became undone. i went back to my room and i thought, "i tied it so tightly, why did it become undone so easily?"so i compared this to lovers. we thought we really had each other but we broke up really easily. i compared it to a ribbon," he explained during a tv broadcast.
a card that is included in the album featuring two of the members. when the card is opened, the string is pulled taut and a knot is formed, corresponding to the title song. i was very impressed when i first opened the card! (imagine how long it took for people to punch holes and tie a string through them for this omg)
these are some of my favourite pictures from bts' now3 dreaming days photobook. it cost me quite some money but it was all worth it! the pictures are all very beautiful and there are also some quotes inside (i'm pretty sure the members came up with them) which i really like.
my favourite quote is probably the first one ("now, i am standing in front of this door intimidated by perfectionism, mistakes and hopes"). i relate to it, in a way. here i am, fresh out of secondary 4, alone in a foreign country. of course i would be intimidated. intimidated by the unfamiliar surroundings, the expectations people placed upon me, the mistakes i have and will make and the hopes that i have.
